ann
(Ann)
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procured in the early 1750 s or the ten Manchurian moose calves captured
in the Kangxi reign.^29
It was during the same reign that a bureaucratic transformation took
place as the Qing administrative apparatus shifted its center from Shengj-
ing, which became an auxiliary capital, to Beijing. A Shengjing branch of
Beijing’sNeiwufu(Imperial Household Department) emerged to manage
northeastern foraging space, in addition to managing other crown lands.
The bulk of this immense territory was intended for the plow, ideally
guided by demobilized bannermen onfields set aside for them. Banner
serfs would labor on the imperial clan’s own manor farms in southern
Manchuria.^30
The BeijingNeiwufuwas separated from the regular bureaucracy to
manage the extraction of wealth for the extended imperial household and
staffed by the emperor’s own“three superior banners,”namely, the Plain
Yellow, the Bordered Yellow, and the Plain White. These, along withfive
“inferior banners”in service of noble households, pursued elite foraging
activities in the northeast. Such units were composites of preconquest
household bondservant and banner companies, some of which were
formally consolidated into the Shengjing branch of theNeiwufu, estab-
lished in 1752.^31
To supervise the imperial house’s northeastern dominions, the Shengj-
ing branch worked with a number of subsections of the BeijingNeiwufu
as well as with parts of the regular Six Board bureaucracy, including
offices under theGongbu(Board of Works).^32 The most important sub-
section was theDuyusi(“Office of the Imperial Hunt”; Ma:Buthai
Jurgan; known as theCaibuyamenfrom 1661 – 76 ), coordinating foraging
matters between Shengjing and Beijing. Finally, administrative elements
of the local banner system also participated.
A brief bureaucratic anatomy offish foraging in the Butha Ula enclave
may convey some of the system’s complexity. The sixteen specialized
fishing“detachments”(zhu-xuan; Ma:juhiyan) would turn catches over
to their immediate superior, the Butha Ula Superindendant. He would
then have sturgeon conveyed to Beijing,“fine-scaled”fish to the Shengjing
Board of Rites, and sea perch to theYuchashanfang(Palace Larder), a
subbranch of the BeijingNeiwufuthat served up imperial meals. The
foragers’supply needs, mainly grain and salt, were requisitioned through
the ShengjingNeiwufu, which could even provide wives for single for-
agers.^33 Fishing in Butha Ula involved elements of the local banner
system, the Shengjing regional and Beijing central bureaucracies, while
contributing little to the direct subsistence of the foragers involved.
The Nature of Imperial Foraging in the SAH Basin 71
